Playing Catch Up - Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt Swap

Hi Peeps!

This is a retro post brought to you by the Month of October in the Year 2015?!! holy balls that's a lifetime ago!

Anyway... I participated in the Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt Swap

I chose the Take Wing pattern by Lillyella .

OMG she is a genius in the paper piecing world, you've probably seen the ridiculously crazy gorgeous Epic Halloween Quilt which is being run as a QAL by Flying Parrot Quilts.

The Midnight Bite pattern is the block which captures my eye the most....already added to the WIP list....sigh

Anywhoo I digress...this is the back of Take Wing....shes a bulky girl and carries alot a little around the middle like most of us Mummas ;)

I chose a Robert Kaufman metallic spot for the background....just to give her a little sparkle to go along with her shimmery wings. 

I am a crap  novice FMQ at best and although I love trying new and time involved patterns for these minis, I get a little frustrated at the lack of my FMQ skill.

The back features a gorgeous Kaffe print that I've hoarded forever...was keeping just for this mini lololol

Here she is in all her Sparkliness...totally a word!....I was very sad to see her go

A couple of extras my go to Heather Bailey pincushion and cute skull fobs...everyone needs a bit of skullduggery in their life!

Mini Quilts swaps are a great way to try something new and small, maximum size is usually 24" but can be less. Plus you usually have heaps of time between sign ups and mailing deadlines......don't know why then I always leave mine until the last minute??

Catch ya later Lovelies x

No I Haven't Been Smothered By My Stash!!

Contrary to popular belief I haven't disappeared under a pile of fabric!

I am also in complete disbelief and denial that its been 2 MONTHS since we last spoke??

Damn life that keeps getting in the way LOL

OK moving on.......Below is the gorgeousness that is Alison Glass fabric and her deliciously saturated colours and the basis for my Alison Glass Mini Quilt Swap run on Instagram.

Some of them really smack you in the eyeballs like the Corsage and Party Streamer Lines

And even the Bike Path range is colour heavy although it reads to me as more of a stash builder fabric as it's less of a dominating  feature fabric

image sourced from http://alisonglass.bigcartel.com/category/fabric

Text is probably the most familiar range on a visual level, simply for the big "text" following particularly in low volume prints these days.

Now you've had your brief Alison Glass lesson I will flood you with Pictures of my Mini

My first plan was something paper pieced....Surprise Surprise you say

But the more I played around with the fabric I wanted to try something that would showcase ALL the fabrics not just a select line or only a few fabrics.

I used the teeny tiny Dresden that I got from Westwood Acres for free with one of my orders...the cuteness was ridiculous!

Then I decided to add some Butterflies and hand stitch them down with Perle 8 thread.

It wasn't without a few trials and tribulations, including melting the invisible thread AFTER I'd appliqued the centres down, and having to redo two centres as the seam allowances popped out in the embroidery hoop!

But I think that's what these minis are all about? Trying something new, different or challenging on a small scale...but I do wish I was brave enough to be more adventurous with my FMQ. It's non existant!

And just look at this BEAUTIFUL mini I received from Shirley @simplesew

Shirley has used the Art Theory Panel in White and Charcoal and appliqued it down on some quarters  and also cut  a feature from another in the range to put on the "Bitch" background fabric which is a nod to the Profanity Swap I did back in February

My photo doesn't really do it justice but I'll try and capture a better on for Instagram tomorrow

Little OWB was suitably impressed and as excited as I was....I'm training her well LOL

Shirley packaged it generously with some lovely selvedges...which I do collect

And some generous extras, needle minder by @whatthebobbin and a nifty two finger magnetic sewing machine screwdriver, plus some charms.

A great Swap!!

Linking up with Heather and Meg cause I miss Fabric Tuesdays

 

Rainbow Mini Swap on Instagram- Still Cheating On You

Yes I'm still cheating on you my lovely bloggy peeps!

I have a tonne of posts to do but sadly noone has gifted me extra hours in the day?

Here's a recent finish for you to look at over your cups of tea,coffee,vodka,gin etc

This was another mini quilt swap run on IG by @katebasti and since I had yet to make a Rainbow inspired quilt, my rubber arm shot up and I joined....once again failing to check my commitments for the month!!

I missed the International deadline by one week but it has gone!

 I bribed my partner with fabric and chocolate and lollies for my tardiness LOL

I have had this pattern by The Tartan Kiwi for a wee while just waiting for the right opportunity to use it

If you have yet to try one of her paper pieced patterns I highly recommend them

I worked loosely on the ROYGBIV order with a little more room for subtle shading between the main colours

The body is made using Robert Kaufmann Metallic and it gives the perfect amount of gold flicker in the light, so I used it for the binding as well.

Don't tell the others but the Purple girl is my favourite...she's the Sassy One!

I quilted in the ditch externally and internally on all four wings then roughly 1/8" outside all four ladies, if I was a fancy quilter I could've gone crazy in the white space, but I'm definitely a Piecer not a Quilter!

She was hard to give away, which I always believe is a good sign that you've done your best work!

But look what I received from Katy of The Littlest Thistle all the way in Scotland!!

This lovely, which I had admired in the #rainbowminiswap feed, immediately caught my eye with it's beautiful simplicity and deceivingly simple design.

It would not have been easy at all...it is perfectly lined up and spaced so the quilting intersects each point on the hexagons exactly and exactly down the middle between each one also!!

It's also on one of my all time favourite fabrics, Heath by Alexander Henry.

Katy also popped in some lovely extras for Moi and Little OWB....teenage OWB's stole the Jelly Bunnies immediately.....Katy is also in this particular magazine with one of her patterns!!

Once again a great swap and ALOT of fun ....which is what it's all about.

Lets count this as a finish for Finish It Up Friday

Friday Finishes - About Bloody Time!

Well Hello There!!

 You guys are awesome! All the lovely comments you are leaving for my giveaway are making me feel delicious...give yourselves an extra piece of chocolate! I will close it up on Sunday xxx

Friday for me started at 4am with Little OWB waking up......and then vomiting...everywhere!

Poor wee soss, but it did mean a day off work and sitting very still while she napped on me.....so I finally manged to put the binding on this quilt!!!!

 I still love it, and I even like the backing that I let the boys choose!

She's bright baby!

 I collect Chenille bedspreads and use them as quilt backs for that extra snuggle factor and to provide some weight that I feel sometimes cotton wadding lacks.

I bound it with some V&A that I've lying around for about 4 years? Quite cool spooky trees as a large piece, but just higgeldy piggeldy low volume as a binding,perfect I think.

The Plus Quilt ( my names suck ) ends up at a good wrap around size of  50 x 70.

Now this baby is HUMONGOUS! So much so that I couldn't get a decent photo of her even tho I stood on all sorts of things...I'm a midget!

  

On a Whim by Camille Roskelley.

It finishes up at a whopping 71' x 86" including the border.

Throw another Chenille backing on it and it's really heavy and delicious! I used two different lines of MoMo, Flutterby and Just Wing It.Both are quite hard to find now...shame

I machine bound this big girl with Leaf Vine in Cherry from Oh Deer, which you can still find bits and pieces of.

My longarmer quilter her all over in big butterflies

and little butterflies.

I'm so glad I can finally show you guys a finish or two!

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It up Friday 

 

  and TGIFF which is being hosted by ayliN-Nilya

and Lindsey for Fabric Frenzy Friday

Finish It Up Friday

 

I have been doing some stuff...although you probably can't tell from the big gaps on my blog datewise....sometimes I just forget to blog about them, or mostly I just simply don't have enough hours in the day....familiar reason anyone?? Especially when I have a bajillion children...OK only 4 and 3 of them are sort of self sufficient...I use that term loosely...teenage boys.

 

Anywhooo...waffle waffle one of the really fun things I do get to do is pattern test for Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts

 

 

This is her latest pattern Bright Sky, go and read all about it....I'll wait.....

 

It's an awesome pattern with really easy to follow instructions, now tweaked a smidge to allow for extra wiggle room and bias edges, but what appeals to me is that it is a great one for a feature print and/or a select few prints of a favourite line.

Perfect as a go to gift......go buy it I guarantee you'll use it more than once

 

I also finished and posted off February's Stash Bee blocks for Hive#1...yes I said February that's why I've done more than the regulatory single block, hope Gwendellyn likes them

 

 

Scrappy heart tutorial here

 

 St Louis 16 Patch block tutorial here

 

 

  Cross Stitch block tutorial here

 

 

Fabric bribery for being soooo late..plus I think it may be handy to have more scraps from the blocks people send you just so your quilt can be easy to mix together using other peoples fabric,taste and style

 

 

March blocks are one and a half done....sooo much fun once you get into it and funnily enough I really enjoyed the drafting aspect with graph paper....who woulda thought??

 

 

And these pictures are just for fun because although it's Autumn the weather has been amazing and I know Winter is Coming....mwahaha only funny if you are a Game of Thrones nut ;)

 

Have a lovely weekend!!